Microcircuits are small electronic circuits and include integrated circuits in which connected components are installed in/on a chip of semiconducting material. For testing purposes, a microcircuit may be housed in/on a microcircuit housing assembly to, for example, avoid directly connecting the microcircuit content to a printed circuit assembly to which the microcircuit housing assembly is instead directly attached.
Currently, an entity that tests microcircuits may require a full printed circuit assembly (PCA) to arrive from a contract manufacturer (CM). A printed circuit assembly is a printed circuit board (PCB) on which components are installed. In the context of testing a microcircuit housed in a microcircuit housing assembly, the components installed on the printed circuit board may include the microcircuit housing assembly. For testing, surface mounting technology (SMT) modifications are performed on the printed circuit assembly, and then microcircuit content is assembled in/on the microcircuit housing(s) to result in a completed assembly. The completed assembly with the printed circuit board, the microcircuit housing assembly, any other components on the printed circuit board, and the microcircuit content in/on the microcircuit housing may be used in a test environment to test the microcircuit content.
An entity that uses the completed assembly with the microcircuit housing assembly may have different steps and stages performed by different departments, such as an SMT department for the SMT modifications and a precision microelectronics assembly department for assembly of the microcircuit content. In the assembly process, shims may be added to the printed circuit assembly via pads and the microcircuit housing may be epoxied onto the printed circuit assembly. Bond wires may then be connected to the shim on the printed circuit assembly and the microcircuit content in/on the microcircuit housing. Tests can then be performed on the microcircuit content.
Initial direct current (DC) tests can be performed by the contract manufacturer and the precision microelectronics assembly department without the microcircuit content, but some testing cannot be performed without the microcircuit content. For example, amplifier loop biasing testing cannot be tested without the microcircuit content.
Rework of the microcircuit in/on the microcircuit housing is time consuming and if the completed assembly is damaged the entire completed assembly can be ruined. The printed circuit assemblies on which the microcircuit housings are installed may sometimes be expensive pieces of equipment, such as when the printed circuit assemblies are customized for testing of high frequency circuitry. Additionally, troubleshooting of a problem detected in the microcircuit testing can be complicated when the microcircuit housings are inextricable from the printed circuit assemblies.